Aimless Ascension

Xiaolin woke up to a disgusting stench and found herself submerged in water, still in Gale's embrace. The water was dirtier than she would like, and she was probably the reason behind that. It was all impurities of her body that dirtied the water.

With the bathhouse construct disabled, it remained mostly dirty. Along with the stench, there was heavy smoke of spirit energy in the air. It would have made her greedy to absorb them all on most days, but not today.

That only left with her the person she was clutched to. She was about to lift her head to look at his face, but a tearing pain took over her, making her whimper in his embrace.

"Move slowly," her master advised her as he lifted her up slowly to his face level, still in his embrace.

"Master," Xiaolin called, unsure what to say.

"Congratulations on your advancement." Gale smiled softly, touching her cheek. He wiped the bloody sludge off her face as brighter skin appeared underneath the layers of bloody impurities. The advancement of metamorphosis did her good, and the skin was the least of it.

Xiaolin blinked at his congratulations, and then realisation dawned on her.

"Master, then I'm. . ." she lost her words at the excitement. "I'm copper?"

Xiaolin moaned again, jerking her head up in his grasp. The news was exciting enough for her to forget everything in celebration.

"No, you aren't a copper," Gale said. "Honestly, I don't know what you're now, but it is one step forward."

"What do you mean?" Xiaolin drew her face closer to his, frowning.

"I probably should have seen this coming. The steps of your spirit art cultivation differ from normal humans," Gale said. "In simpler words, you don't follow the progression route of Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold. Your path should be more like Twilight or Vale."

"But the pain I went through," Xiaolin said, still wasn't comprehending what Gale said.

"It wasn't the Copper metamorphosis," Gale said, disappointing her. "And you'll never have them. Your path of progression is different. I think it's right to call it "The First Calamity" since your spirit nature outweighs your human nature."

"First calamity," Xiaolin repeated. She certainly didn't like the sound of it. Well, considering the excruciating pain she experienced the few hours, her reasoning was valid.

"Xiaolin, it might be a little late for me to say, but you should know you're not a human. Not completely."

"WHAT!?" That got the biggest scare off her as she jerked in his embrace, only to groan in pain.

"I fear one of your parents, preferably your mother, is of the spirit race," Gale said. "I have little knowledge to say which exact race, but I'm pretty sure about my guess. In honesty, most people can't tell the difference, as Spirit Race is only a legend to most people."

The frown of anxiety never left Xiaolin's brows as the big revelation still resounded in her head.

"Don't think too much about it," Gale said, rubbing her head.

"Master, what am I?" Xiaolin asked, biting her lip.

"You're my disciple, for one thing," Gale said softly. "As for anything else, you can decide for yourself what you want to become."

Gale activated the construct of the bathhouse as the air and water started to refresh, albeit at a slower pace. Whatever changes Xiaolin went through, it destroyed the array of spirit constructs, though their self-repairing features would recover all their functions in a few more hours.

He hadn't done that before, thinking it would wake up Xiaolin, as he was keeping her company. But now there was no point staying with the terrible stench of the impurities.

"Honesty, I don't think you'll care much about it," Gale said. "Well, to be fair, I think you'll like it if you consider what changes it brought to you."

Xiaolin blinked. "What changes?"

"For a starter, your hair is blonde," Gale said. "Not just a normal blonde, it was literally glowing in a golden shimmer."

Xiaolin's eyes widened as finally, her eyes fell on her shimmering hair that seemed to spit gold. She had seen nothing like this before.

"This. . ." Xiaolin touched her hair, even though she felt like crying even at the slightest motion. "This feels weird."

"It suits you," Gale told her. "Also, I think you're a few centimetres taller now, and way prettier. It feels you'll develop the legendary Glamour after a couple more advancements."

Xiaolin's heart raced at her master's words. Of course, she didn't understand the latter part, but a few centimetres taller, she could ask for nothing more. As for the prettier part, she would have to judge it later.

"However, the biggest change should be your constitution," Gale said. "You can already feel the change, don't you?"

Xiaolin nodded her head like a woodpecker as she considered his words. She was completely full of Qi, as if like a balloon only with Qi.

"I have over ten times more Qi than what I used to have," Xiaolin said. "But why does my body hurt?"

"Clearly, you aren't prepared for the first calamity," Gale said. "But I think the pain will go away within a day or two. You'll be perfectly fine before the festival to show off your new looks. Anyway, you should check out what you can do after you went through so much pain."

Gale could already detect what capability Xiaolin would have, but it was better for her to figure that out on her own. He couldn't wait to find the delight spreading on her face.

"Yes," Xiaoiln said as she drew her Qi. At that very moment, her eyes beamed as she felt a warmth in her abdomen. An image of an overly complicated mark appeared in her mind shortly. "The mark?"

Xiaolin used her Qi instinctively, unsure of what she was doing. The result was greater than she imagined. All the water in the bathhouse connected to her Qi as she wielded them as she pleased.

With just a thing, she created a whirlpool in the water. Xiaolin had a completely dumbfounded expression on her face.